Bung



Marii 5; 1946. ,1 F. M. SPAYD 2,396,027

' BUNG r Filed April 10, 1942 I hvvsnfoz FRED MSPAYD ATTORNEY PatentedMar. 5, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE r r v BUNG I FredM. Spayd, VanWert, Ohio, assignor to F. M. Spayd Engineering Corporation, Dayton,Ohio, a corporation of Ohio V V Application April 10, 1942,: Serial No.438,447

2 Claims.

barrels, drums or containers of any kind, and. I

particularly.to bungs and means for setting, or properly securing saidbungs in the kegs, barrels or other containers, and also to novelextracting means for said sealing means or bungs.

My novel sealing means is particularly useful and affords manyadvantages over the present types of seals ,or bungs now on the marketand especially when used for sealing'kegs and barrels of draught beerand other beverages.

Some of the seals and bungs now being used are made of wood and it istherefore necessary to hammer this type of bung into the keg or barrel,and many times they are hammered too hard and broken, or even drivenright through the bung opening. Consequently there is danger of break-.ing not only the bung but also the barrel or keg or the bush into whichthe bung is driven. Also splinters of wood may be 'slivered off the bungor off the barrel when the bung is driven or hammered into place if itshould not be started absolutely straight, or if hammered too hard as isoften the case when large and heavy men seal the kegs and barrels.

Such splinters cause trouble when drawing the beer from the kegs andbarrels if they get'into the taps and pipes leading from thebarrel tothe faucet. Such splinters may also leave tiny openings sufficient toprevent a positive or air-tight seal, thus causing flat or off tastebeer, and even may result in spoilage of the entire keg or barrel ofbeer. 3

.Such wooden bungs are also very difiicult toremove and they cannot, inmany instances, be used a second time, and are thrown away, thuscreating a loss and extra expense.

Many beer kegs and barrels now on the market have a cast metal bush forthe bung and when wooden bungs are used these cast metal bushes aresometimes broken when the bung is hammered in to seal the keg or barrelMoreover the cast metal bushes are not finished by machine on the insideand consequently these inside surfaces are uneven and pitted, andtherefore, a positive, or air tight seal cannot always be obtained, withthe result that such leaks in the seal often cause fiat or bad tastingbeer. Here again spoilage may often take place.

My novel bung overcomes all of the above objections to, and faults ofthe types of seals and bungs above mentioned, and in addition has manyadvantages thereover,

It is therefore an object of my invention to produce a novel seal orbung for kegs, barrels or other containers to provide the maximum ofsafety against losses due to evaporation, and/or spoil-' age. 7

Another object is to produce a sanitary seal or bung for the purposesmentioned, which bung can be easily and thoroughly washed and thereforeused over and over again many times.

Another object is to produce a novel bung which can be easily andproperly forced into'position to form an air tight seal, and which alsocan be easily removed without damage to the bung, the bung bush, keg orbarrel the bung beingalways wholly within the barrel bush to preventdamage or injury to the bung when the barrel is rolled.

Another object is the production of a novel bung, the sealing portion ofwhich can be positively forced into any and all uneven places in a castmetal bush to provide an absolutely air tight seal. 7 I

A further object of my invention is to construct my novel bung with anelastoplastic material in sucha state of plasticity that it will readilyflow under pressure to create an'air tight seal in the bung'bush, eventhough said bush is uneven and has pits therein.

Another object is to provide a pressure device to cause theelastoplasticmaterial to absolutely seal the bung opening. 7

A further object-is to provide a novel ela'stoplastic sealing means fora bung opening with means for applying pressure thereto to force said 1sealing means in a direction at substantially right angles to thedirection of applied force to create an air tight seal.

Another object is to provide a pressure applying means adjustable'toprevent too much pressure being applied to the sealing means or bung. .Astill further object is to provide an elastoplastic material as asealing means or bung with a rigid means to support said elastoplasticmaterial and with means cooperating. therewith to apply'pressure to saidmaterial after the bung is in place in a bung openingbush, to create anabsolutely air tight seal for the bung opening.

Another object is to provide means to release the pressure in the bungand to withdraw the construction and combinations of parts, theessential elements of which are set forth in appended claims, and apreferred form or embodiment of which is hereinafter described withreference to the drawing which accompanies and forms part of thisspecification.

Of said drawing:

Fig. 1 is. a plan view of my novel bung, properly located in a metalbush, and shows a. fragmentary part of .a keg or barrel.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top view of the bung releasing and extracting means.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the bung releasing and extracting means.

Fig. 5 is a side view, partl in section, of the means for applyingpressure to lock the bung in the bush.

Fig. 6 is a bottom view of the same, with part of the handle brokenaway.

l -ig. '7" is: a. section: on line 't--'I of: Fig. 6;. taken throughthe. pressure control device.

Fig. 8 is an end view of Fig. 6.

Detailed description In. Figs. 1 and 2 1 have. shown athreaded metalbushis. having a flange t9; and. a threaded wall it screwed. into. a keg,orbarrel 2.1. Mynovel sealing, means: or, bung is shown in these; twofigures and it includes: a metal disk 22- forming, a base for anintegral hexagon stud 23. which terminates in a round sectionv 24threaded to receive a hexagon nut 25. Thisv hexagon nut 25. has acounterbored clearance hole 261 large enough to clear the points of thehexagon stud 2.3. The round section 24 has a tapped hole. 2-] for apurpose to be later described.

The disk 22; is molded into an elastoplastic material which is cured tosubstantially a. Shore durometer hardness A 65.

This elastoplastic material is formed cup shaped and has a circularbottom 30 beneath the disk 22,, with a rising tapered side wall 3| and asection 32 above the disk 22', which section 32 surrounds the hexagonstud 23. By molding the disk 22 inside the elastoplastic sealing member,the member can be easily and thoroughly washed and therefore, there isno danger of the liquid or beer sticking to it. and becoming sour- Apressure device including a disk. 35 with a hexagon hole to fit the.stud 23- has. a tapered side wall 35,, the outside. contour of whichfits ie inside wall 3| of the elastoplastic material or sealing means.The side wall 36 has a flange 31 resting on the top edge of the wall 3|so that there is normally a clearance 38 between the bottom of the disk35 and the top of the section 32 of the sealing means.

To seal a keg. barrel or other container having a bush Hi my novelsealing means or bung is placed in the bush |8 in the position shown inFigs. 1 and 2. Then by means of a novel pressure controlled means to behereinafter described, such means being in the form of a 12-point socketwrench, the bung is forced the proper amount so as to create an airtight seal in the bush |32|l.

The above mentioned 12-point socket wrench is placed over the nut 25 andturned in the tightening direction to screw saidnut 25 down upon thethreaded section 24.. Such turning of the nut 25 forces the pressuredisk 35 straight down on the hexagon stud 23 which prevents any turningof the disk 35, whereupon the side. wall 36 and flange 31 exert adownward-pressure on the elastoplastic side wall 3| causing said wall 3|to be forced outwardly against the wall 20 of the bush I8, and as theside wall 3| is in a state of plasticity it will readily flow into anyand all uneven places and pits which may be in the inside wall 20 of thebush It, thus creating an absolutely air tight seal to prevent any lossof material in the keg, barrel or container, through evaporation and/orspoilage.

The clearance 38 permits the downward movement of the disk 35 and theclearance 25 permits downward movement of the nut 25 over the hexagonstud 23, as said nut 25 is being screwed down on the threaded section24.

The pressure controlled wrench above mentioned is shown in Figs. 5 to 8and consists of scalloped driving disk 44 mounted between forks 45 and46 of av wrench block 41. A 12-point socket wrench 48 has a tenon 49fitting in a hole in the fork 45. Above the tenon 49 there is a hexagonportion or section 50 fitting in a hexagonal hole 51 in the scallopeddisk 44. Above this section-53 is, another smaller tenon 5.2 fitting ina hole. in the fork 4:6. This tenon 52 is slightly shorter than thethickness of the fork 45 and a tenoned, washer 53. rests on the; tenon52 and is firmly pressed against it by a head 54 of a bolt 55 screwedinto thev tenon 52 and hexagon section 5%). of the wrench 48. The head54 has a hexagon hole or socket 56 whereby the bolt 55 can be screweddown tight, thus holding the wrench 48 in position. Since the pressureof the bolt 55 is applied only between the tenon on the washer 53 andthe upper end of the tenon 52 there can be, no squeezing of the forks 45and 45 and consequently no binding of the driving disk 44 and wrench 48the latter turning freely in the forks 45and 46 with the tenons 49 and52 respectively as the bearings.

The forks 45 and 4'6 are formed by cutting the block 41 on the line 57.The block 41 is drilled at 58 and has a bearing 59v to receive a handlerod 553 which is pinned therein and has pinned to the other end thereofa handle 6| The block 4'5 has an arm 65 with a hole 55 to receive a ball61 and a heavy spring 68 to hold the ball in one of the scallops on theedge of the disk 44. The outer end of the hole 55 is threaded as at 69to receive a threaded plug I0 having a hexagon socket H for turning theplug to apply pressure to the spring 68 to hold the ball 61'! firmly inthe scallop so that by turning the block 41 by the handle 6| when thewrench 48 is placed over the nut 25 (Figs. 1 and 2) said nut 25 will bescrewed down on the section 24 to tightly set or lock the bung in thebush 8. By adjusting the screw plug 10 the pressure of the ball 61 onthe disk 44 is definitely controlled so that when the bung is tightenough to create an air tight seal, the ball 61 will ratchet over thescalloped edge of the disk 44 thus preventing too much pressure andpositively controlling-the pres sure of the wall 36 and flange 31against the plastic wall 3| of the sealing means or bung so that it willnot be ruined.

Such pressure control prevents damage to the bung while at the same timeinsuring that said bung is pressed into the. bush l8 with sufiicientforce to create an absolutely air tight seal.

Therefore., my novel bung can be used many .times whereas some. of theformer wooden bungs could be used once only.

ing the bung or the bush, I have provided a 12- point socket wrench 15(Figs. 3 and 4) to fit the nut 25 (Figs. 1 and 2). A handle T6 isprovided to turn the wrench 15 to loosen the nut 25.

In order to break the seal between the bung and its opening, and also inorder to extract the bung easily and without any danger of damaging thebung when it is removed from the bush i 8 I have provided the wrench 15with an extracting pin Tl having an annular groove 18 which cooperateswith a pilot screw 19 to retain the pin 11 in the wrench l and at thesame time permit it to be turned. The pin 11 has an integral threadedtenon 80 to fit the tapped hole 21 (Fig. 2) of the bung stud 23-24.

When the wrench 15 is placed over the nut 25 the tenon 80 raises the pin11, which is permitted by the annular groove 18. The nut 25 is thenloosened which relieves the plastic material for contraction, afterwhich the tenon is screwed into the tapped hole 21 by means of a pin Si,or handle, driven into the pin 11 near its top. Then by gripping thehandle SI and lifting straight upwardly, the bung is easily removed fromthe bush i3, thus preventing any damage to the bung or to the bush l 8,in contrast to the difficult removal or extraction of former types ofbungs which were very often splintered and broken thus eliminating asecond use thereof. At the same time splinters of wood often were leftin the barrel and sometimes caused considerable trouble in the draughtsystem when drawing off the liquids.

Such disadvantages are wholly eliminated by the use of my novel bungextracting device, and

moreover much time is saved in opening the barrels when preparing towash them before refilling.

Operation It is believed that from the above detailed description theoperation of locking the bung in the barrel bush l8 and then at the sametime forcing it to such an extent as to create an air tight seal by theuse of my novel pressure control wrench, and also the breaking of theseal and the final extracting of the bung, can be readily understood,and therefore, I shall give a brief rsum only, of these operations.

. After filling a barrel with liquid, especially beer,

it is absolutely necessary that the barrel be sealed with a perfect airtight seal so asnot to lose any of the gases by escapement through thefilling bung, which if this occurs, the beer is flat or off taste and itcannot be sold. Consequently there is much loss to the dealer.

Therefore, as above pointed out I have invented a hung which eliminatesall danger of such losses. I have also invented a novel pressure controlwrench to set or lock the hung in the bush in a very easy manner, andhave provided a convenient extracting device for removing the'bung.

After the barrel has been filled, the bung (Figs. 1 and 2) is merelypressed into thebush [8 by the thumbs or fingers and the wrench socket48 (Figs. 5, 6 and 8) is placed over the nut 25 and the Wrench is turnedin the tightening direction by the use of the handle 6| until the ball61 slips or ratchets over the scallops on the periphery of the disk 44.The pressure of theball 61 on the scallops of the disk 44 is determinedbeforehand to give the right amount of pressure to create a perfect airtight seal between the bung and the bush 18, by adjusting the nut 10 toincrease or decrease the tension of the spring 68 (Figs. 6 and whicheveris necessary.

The turning of the nut forces the pressure plate down and its wall 36and flange 31 force the wall 3| of the elastoplastic sealing means verytightly against the inner Wallof the bush l8 so as to positively fill upany uneven places on said wall, and also fill up or seal any pits thatmay be in the cast bush I8.

To break the seal preparatory to cleaning the barrel, the wrench 15 isused and the tenon 80 is screwed into the hole 21 to extract the bungfrom the bush.

I do not wish to limit my invention to the one form shown, as it issusceptible of embodiment in other forms, all coming within the scope ofthe claims which follow.

What I claim is:

1. The combination of a re-usable sanitary sealing means for a bungbush, said sealing means including an elastoplastic member molded arounda disk and having a tapered side wall; a multi-sided stud carried bysaid disk and projecting through a portion of said member; threadedmeans projecting from-said stud and having a threaded hole in the topthereof adapted toreceive a bung extracting means to facilitate removalof the sealing means from the bung bush to prevent injury to saidsealing means during its removal; pressure means adapted to fit andslide on said multi-sided stud, said pressure means having a taperedside wall to fit the inside of the wall of the elastoplastic member, anda flange resting on the top of the wall of said member; and means tomove the pressure means down I on said multi-sided stud to cause theWall and fiange of the pressure means to force said elastoplastic memberoutwardly to create an air tight seal between its wall and said bush.

2. The combination of a hung for a barrel bung bush, said bung beingwholly within the bush to prevent injury to the bung when the barrel isrolled including a hollow plastic member having a bottom and a taperedside wall. theoutside of which is adapted to fit said bush; rigid meanspartially imbedded in the bottom of said plastic member to preventrelative movement between said member and said rigid means. the latterhaving an exposed portion thereof extending upwardly into the hollow ofthe plastic member and from the inside of the bottom of the member; ahollow pressure means the main portion of which extends into the hollowof the plastic member and adapted to slide upon the exposed portion ofthe rigid means said pressure means having a tapered wall with a flangewhich normally rests on top of the wall of the plastic member. theoutside of the pressure means tapered wall fitting the inside wall ofthe plastic member; and a device turnably and adjustabh mounted on saidexposed portion of the rigid means and within the hollow of the pressuremeans for actuating the pressure means to cause the tapered side walland the flange thereof to force the plastic member radially outwardly atright angles to the direction of applied force to press the plasticmember against the inside wall of the bush to cause a seal between theplastic member and the bush.

FRED M. SPAYIJ'.

